Shot
by Mesataki
Summary: My take on how Tali ended up in the clinic. First story published - be nice. Rated T just in case...


"Keelah!" Tali screamed.

Blood seemed to be everywhere as she fell backwards onto the metal floor. Gasping in pain, she drew herself up against a crate and leaned against it for support as a burst of fire rang above her head.

After all those months away from the flotilla, she'd never suffered a serious flesh wound up until now. She had been fairly lucky and came away mostly unscathed in fire fights. Unfortunately for her, that lucky streak seemed to be coming to an end. Starting, potentially, with her life.

Her head swam with pain as she struggled to somehow get out of her current predicament, _preferably_ in one piece. A quarian's weak immune system came to mind as she smeared cold medi-gel all over the wound. The thick, clear substance clang onto her skin and cloth tenaciously, stopping the flow of blood as well as disinfecting it. A numbing feeling washed over her leg, deadening the pain so that she could focus on more important tasks at hand. Medi-gel was truly a godsend, save for two flaws. One, the numbness lasted only for a few minutes, and, two, it was hell to wash out.

Wound temporarily taken care of, she could now take care of the assassin. Or were there more? She didn't know and she prayed fervently that there weren't. Favoring her right leg, the quarian sat up shakily and peered around the corner of the crate, raising her shotgun as she did so. Her Storm I looked as if it's seen better days. Regrettably, she couldn't afford better equipment – not yet at least.

Her assailant (only one as far as she could tell) was out of cover – a rather stupid move for a turian. Realizing his mistake, he turned to run back for cover, giving Tali a chance to quickly fire a round that into his back. The kinetic shields absorbed most of the damage, but he was sent sprawling forward from the pellets, into a particularly disadvantageous position.

Shaking his head to clear it, the turian began picking himself up. His movement was cut short as he noticed two disks appearing next to his arm. "Shi-" he began. There was a flash of electrical origin as the tech mines detonated. It hadn't killed him, unfortunately, disappointing the quarian. Instead, he was flung away due to the blast and was pinned down subsequently by the falling crates. He reached for his gun but immediately recoiled in pain as the hot metal burned him.

Wary of other possible enemies, Tali left her cover slowly and limped over to the assassin. There appeared to be no one else, thankfully. Now, she wanted answers.

Her attacker stared down the barrel of her shotgun as the quarian asked hurriedly, "Who sent you, assassin?!"

"I-I can't tell you," he stuttered. His mandibles twitched slightly in fear and he held still.

Tali struck a crate to scare him even more. "Answer me!" she cried, her voice shrill with exhaustion and pain as the numbing began to ebb away. "Tell me or I swear on my ancestor's name, I will kill you!" She had no intention to kill him, let alone stomach the idea, but she had to coerce the answer from him.

Her methods seem to have worked and the turian screamed, "Saren! It was Saren!"

"The Spectre?" That audio file she had stored in her Omni-tool! It proved the Spectre going rogue and he was willing to kill her to get it. 'My day is getting better and better,' she sarcastically mused. She lowered her shotgun. "Alright. You will live, but I can't let you walk around freely. I'll call C-Sec in," she said.

"What? No!"

Ignoring his pleas, Tali went ahead and tipped the Citadel's law enforcers on her assassin's location. She made sure her message was untraceable – she had no intention of sitting through another three hour interrogation – especially when there could be another assassin on her heels. It was best to leave little indication of her presence. "It's done," she announced to no one of interest as her Omni-tool flashed away.

She left the docks and limped to the nearest transit, minding her leg as she climbed into it. A screen came up asking for her destination, and she mechanically typed in the Medical Clinic. The vehicle rose slowly, like the program knew that its occupant was injured, and eased into acceleration. Inwardly, Tali was somewhat impressed by the level of detail in the Citadel. She couldn't say the same for security, though.

The transit brought itself to slow halt and the quarian carefully left it. Half-dragging herself, she began to make her way to the door, gaining the attention of some bystanders. She felt uncomfortable as they stared on, but that was to be expected. None of them seemed to want a help – Tali guessed it was because she was a quarian. The whole universe looked on her kind as second-class citizens.

"Ah!" She tumbled forward, one claw gripping her wound. It was burning like acid and she immediately began seething in anger. The assassin had modded his ammo with chemical rounds. Tell-tale bursts of green from the assault rifle had indicated as such, but Tali had been too preoccupied to notice that she didn't suffer from the immediate effects. Why it had such a delayed effect, she didn't know.

Immobilized with pain, she gritted her teeth and made a small movement to get up. Pain shot through her leg and she gasped in pain. It was unlikely she could get into the clinic alone and it killed her that she had to get help from someone else – it went against her race's independent ideals. Swallowing her pride, she reached an arm out at the crowd.

"Help," her voice rasped. No one moved. "Please…"

The sparse crowd seemed to ignore her – staring as if she were some wounded animal. Her vision began spinning and it became nearly impossible to distinguish anything, but she thought she saw someone moved towards her, but the movement was gone just as quick as it started.

And just like that, she was ignored. Her plea gone unnoticed and yet so close to the clinic. Tali began crying in frustration. Or was it from pain and anger? She wanted to rip off her visor and show them that , although her kind created the geth, she was not one of the same ilk. But she couldn't. She needed the environmental suit to survive, and there were no credits to use to buy a replacement, anyway. She wanted to go back home… to the flotilla where she was able to wander about freely. One morning, she would like to wake up and be able to see herself – her flesh without cloth and metal covering it and be able to eat something solid for once. None of that thin, bland paste she ate through a tube.

It was all a far off dream, though, and she began to feel dizzy with exhaustion. Mustering what little strength she had left to spend, the quarian rolled onto her back and activated her Omni-tool to send a message to the clinic. Maybe the doctor would get it and come out get her. Maybe not.

It was only a little while later that the medical clinic's door slid open. However, Tali had already blacked out.

So much for 'leaving little indication' of her presence.


End file.
